Another Red Sea Failure...Viewer Discretion Advised

[Julbra]

Wow that is chilling to see. My worst nightmare.

Seems like it's not a matter of if but rather when. I took the utmost care of my Red Sea Reefer 425 and it still ended up with a failing seam and held with ratchet belts after under 5 years.

Joined the graveyard on Tuesday last week.

 

[salty150]

is Waterbox any better...?

I mean, Red Sea sells many, many, times the number of tanks that Waterbox does.

25 to 1 maybe? More?

So with 25 times more tanks sold than Waterbox, Red Sea's failure rate (3%, 5%, 10%...?) will be higher.

 

[Z Burn's Reefing]

Wow that is chilling to see. My worst nightmare.

Seems like it's not a matter of if but rather when. I took the utmost care of my Red Sea Reefer 425 and it still ended up with a failing seam and held with ratchet belts after under 5 years.

Joined the graveyard on Tuesday last week.

Assuming with the 5 year comment yours was also a G1? Fail at bottom front seam too?

 

[frofan]

I have a G3 300. These posts are my worst nightmare. Are the G3 as prone or is it less likely?

 

[rtparty]

is Waterbox any better...?

I mean, Red Sea sells many, many, times the number of tanks that Waterbox does.

25 to 1 maybe? More?

So with 25 times more tanks sold than Waterbox, Red Sea's failure rate (3%, 5%, 10%...?) will be higher.

The amount of failures would be higher, not the rate (if we assume most manufacturers have roughly the same failure rate.)

Doesn’t matter if you build 1,000 or 100,000. A 10% failure rate is a 10% failure rate. The amounts are grossly different (100 vs 10,000)

Let’s say Red Sea sells 100:1 compared to Waterbox. We have to be well over 250 documented failures on R2R alone. We should see at least 2.5 Waterbox failures at this point and assuming it’s 100:1 is pretty crazy.

 

[W31Olds]

Waterbox may have lower failure rates, however they are not honest about their shipping lead times. My WB order has not been updated for 18 weeks.

 

[salty150]

I have a G3 300. These posts are my worst nightmare. Are the G3 as prone or is it less likely?

The G3 series supposedly went with a glass thickness from up to 18mm - to now 19mm - not sure exactly how much 1mm helps...

They are also bracing (Euro) all tanks over 100 gallons.

They also say that REEFER models 525 and above are further reinforced with front aluminum supports.

They also come with a 5 year warranty.

So, it doesn't sound like any of the structural changes apply to your 300 G3.

It looks like your 300 G3 just gets the new water flow system and 5 year warranty.

 

[NanoSteam]

I have a G3 300. These posts are my worst nightmare. Are the G3 as prone or is it less likely?

Too new to tell yet and I've only seen maybe a couple build threads on here. I think they've certainly lost popularity on R2R vs what you see on their FB group but any mention of a leak is removed immediately on there so you'll never know if a G3 leaked.

Let's just hope Red Sea quietly changed out the silicone but to do so would be a major undertaking for them because of the much longer cure times they would now have to deal with so I'm not liking the odds.

 

[exnisstech]

Waterbox may have lower failure rates, however they are not honest about their shipping lead times. My WB order has not been updated for 18 weeks.

Maybe they should start using quick drying silicone like Redsea so they can speed up production lol. Kidding a side I've been seeing a few reports of the same thing. Not sure what's their problem is. When I got my 330.7 two years ago itbwas in stock. Maybe the timing was just right.

 

[Julbra]

Assuming with the 5 year comment yours was also a G1? Fail at bottom front seam too?

It was indeed a G1. However the vertical front right side seam is the one that failed on mine, around the middle.

 

[peterhos]

Hi All Very scary these posts about Red Sea leaks. My original tank, built by a local tank builder, lasted 20 years without any problem. My Red Sea G2 250 lasted 3 years, did not leak, but when I sent Red Sea pictures of the front seam at the bottom they advised me to drain the tank. They shipped a replacement within 5 days. So, for those of us having nightmares, who makes tanks that never leak?

 

[Proud]

My brother's tank just blew a seam...complete failure overnight at his business.

My fellow Red Sea owners, check your seams daily. Buy some straps or some c-clamps, be prepared...if that can even be a thing. This has been a devastating experience.

Here is the live video feed, not the greatest quality, but sufficient to cause nightmares.

***Update - for those that don't have instagram, I uploaded video directly in post #54; hope it works!***

what happen now, latest status?

 

[NanoSteam]

Hi All Very scary these posts about Red Sea leaks. My original tank, built by a local tank builder, lasted 20 years without any problem. My Red Sea G2 250 lasted 3 years, did not leak, but when I sent Red Sea pictures of the front seam at the bottom they advised me to drain the tank. They shipped a replacement within 5 days. So, for those of us having nightmares, who makes tanks that never leak?

You can literally go with anyone else and probably feel safe. Waterbox has shipping delays now but If I was a betting man it's because of an influx of business. I see way more Waterbox owners on R2R now then I see Red Sea G3's. This was not the case a few years ago when every other build thread seemed to be a Red Sea tank.

 

[joe0813]

Hi All Very scary these posts about Red Sea leaks. My original tank, built by a local tank builder, lasted 20 years without any problem. My Red Sea G2 250 lasted 3 years, did not leak, but when I sent Red Sea pictures of the front seam at the bottom they advised me to drain the tank. They shipped a replacement within 5 days. So, for those of us having nightmares, who makes tanks that never leak?

Joe over at glasscages

 

[Julbra]

Hi All Very scary these posts about Red Sea leaks. My original tank, built by a local tank builder, lasted 20 years without any problem. My Red Sea G2 250 lasted 3 years, did not leak, but when I sent Red Sea pictures of the front seam at the bottom they advised me to drain the tank. They shipped a replacement within 5 days. So, for those of us having nightmares, who makes tanks that never leak?

I heard that silicone seams are only guaranteed for about 8 years by the manufacturers, but that should be very conservative and people should expect at least 10 years from their tanks. My LFS has some 20+ year old tanks that are fine. He had never seen anything as fragile as the Red Sea tanks though, with many failing below the 4 year mark. They have stopped selling them now. In the UK we have a very good manufacturer called D-D and the aluminium stands come prebuilt. I’m not going near Red Sea tanks again.

 

[salty150]

I heard that silicone seams are only guaranteed for about 8 years by the manufacturers, but that should be very conservative and people should expect at least 10 years from their tanks. My LFS has some 20+ year old tanks that are fine. He had never seen anything as fragile as the Red Sea tanks though, with many failing below the 4 year mark. They have stopped selling them now. In the UK we have a very good manufacturer called D-D and the aluminium stands come prebuilt. I’m not going near Red Sea tanks again.

Are these 20 year old tanks that everyone keeps talking about rimless like the Red Sea tanks...?

I don't ever recall hearing any of Red Sea's rimmed tanks (The MAX S-Series) having problems.

 

[Proud]

My brother's tank just blew a seam...complete failure overnight at his business.

My fellow Red Sea owners, check your seams daily. Buy some straps or some c-clamps, be prepared...if that can even be a thing. This has been a devastating experience.

Here is the live video feed, not the greatest quality, but sufficient to cause nightmares.

***Update - for those that don't have instagram, I uploaded video directly in post #54; hope it works!***

Horrible, this video, 100% Lost Trust in Red Sea.

 

[furam28]

Not just the tank failures, its always how Red Sea has handled the issue. They have taken 0 accountability, censored any negative comments on their FB pages, denied warranty claims, blamed the customer... I stopped trusting anything made by Red Sea. Used to use blue bucket salt, switched to TM!

 

[UncommonSense]

Are these 20 year old tanks that everyone keeps talking about rimless like the Red Sea tanks...?

Nope, they are almost exclusively either rimmed tanks, or some eurobraced tanks…

rimless tanks with no euro are a fairly modern phenomenon; it can be done, but it calls for relatively thick glass, particularly for the long spans and bottom pane! (The bottom glass:glass silicone seams are under the highest hydrostatic pressure; the bottom pane being inside the vertical panes means it dictates bottom seam thickness!)

For example, here’s the glass thickness calculation for a G1 reefer XL 425 (10mm bottom pane):

That safety factor had to be brought all the way down to 2 to get the calculator to call for <10mm bottom pane thickness… standard safety factor target is 3.8…

 

[Proud]

I have a G3 300. These posts are my worst nightmare. Are the G3 as prone or is it less likely?

I have a Reefer 300, this post worry me and my wife (worst nightmare). she loses sleep every night before going to bed. She stresses me out with the constant worry.